I remember Maya Angelou was speaking that night. I was a sophomore at Bridgewater State College, a second rate state school slapped together off Rt 106 and Maya Angelou was maybe the biggest name they have ever brought in to speak. I didn’t care. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is one of the most bullshit books I’ve ever read, and the Patriots were in the Super Bowl. A friend of mine had already been kicked out of the dining hall for wearing a homemade FUCK THE RAMS t-shirt and there was no turning back. I was packed in a 2 person dorm with at least 25 people: a bunch of jocks and randoms from my floor and me, the uber quiet weirdo that played Discodance Axis vinyls alone in his room at a moderate volume.

The Pats gave up a game tying touchdown to Ricky Prohel with a minute and a half left. Some idiot wandered into the room screaming “Put fuckin’ Bledsoe back in! We’re gonna loooose!” He got turned around and kicked out with the door closed behind him immediately.

And then the drive happened…

Take it all in…

Ricky Prohel smiling on the sidelines. Madden in the booth complaining over and over that the Patriots should lay it up and go for overtime. The stadium ops team so in disbelief that Vinatieri would be kicking a field goal that they can’t even keep the cables out of his way. The Rams secondary so stunned by Troy Brown appearing over the middle of the field with 29 seconds and no timeouts left that they forget to cover him. They had been in a prevent zone without any inclination that Brady and Belichick would have the balls to go over the middle of the field. Everything happening so fast 700 year old Pat Summerall is struggling to find ways to even describe it. The FOX control room tripping over themselves and showing the wrong footage of Vinatieri missing a field goal in pregame. And only Mike Martz on the sidelines eyeballing a future of getting his car egged by Jay Cutler looking on in a paralyzed shock.

They didn’t know the Patriots. They didn’t know Troy Brown. And it never ever gets old.